The American reaction to the publication of thousands of diplomatic emails on the internet has been extreme, to put it mildly.
Congressmen are calling for Wikileaks to be outlawed as a terrorist organization and for the website to be forcibly removed from the internet.
For a country which enshrined freedom of speech as the first amendment to the constitution, this is definitely over the top.
Julian Assange, founder of Wikileaks, says he is simply exercising his rights.
But anyone who knows the Americans knows that they take themselves very seriously.
And anyone with an ounce of humour has to enjoy some of the things they have said.
Describing Russian President, Vladimir Putin, with his bared chest and machismo photoshoots as an ‘alpha dog’ is perfect.
Those who think the hundred years’ war with France ended too soon, are enjoying descriptions of Sarkozy as ‘thin skinned and authoritarian’.
We are all secretly rather thrilled that Prince Andrew defends our overseas trade so ebulliently.
And frankly, before the election, Mervyn King wouldn’t have been doing his job if he hadn’t worried about whether the incoming Prime Minister and Chancellor were tough enough to make the cuts we needed.
He knows now!
Of course, diplomatic emails are better kept private. Like all diplomacy, they are, after all, a perfect example of the ‘continuation of war by other means’ and as such, potentially explosive.
But now they are out, we should not be surprised at the nature of the contents.
As Sir Christopher Meyer wrote this week, part of his job was unquestionably to deliver gossip back to his masters in London.
As Tony Blair’s Ambassador to Washington, he was told by chief of staff Jonathan Powell to ‘get up the a*** of the White House and stay there.’
As a result, he found himself reporting back to London on Monica Lewinsky, a blue dress and unmentionable stains.
Ridiculous though it sounds, it was important.
Because if the President was impeached, the western world would wobble on its axis, if only briefly.
There is more to come from Wikileaks and we may find that our special relationship is not quite so special, which I, for one, would regret..
And I would deplore anything which places our citizens in harm’s way.
But for now, let’s savour these revelations from the self proclaimed greatest democracy on earth, which is truly learning what freedom of speech means.